We're celebrating after Arts and Humanities at Durham was named in the World Top 20 of a prestigious league table.
The subject area was placed 19th in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by Subject 2021 – its highest ever global ranking and a rise of eight places from 27th last year.
Overall, five of our subjects have been ranked in the top 100 globally in this prestigious league table, with two ranked in the top 50.
Law is again ranked in the world top 50 and Education, Social Sciences and Physical Sciences are in the top 100.
Physical Sciences is in the world top 100 for the tenth year in a row.
The 2021 rankings has also seen a rise for Business and Economics and Psychology.
Hundreds of universities across the world are ranked by the THE global rankings, which are based on teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income.
Varied research
Arts and Humanities researchers at Durham work in a diverse range of subjects and projects, often engaging across departments and faculties.
The mystery behind a painting by renowned French post-impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard was revealed in new research by our School of Modern Languages and provided a new understanding of Pierre Bonnard's relationship with his wife and model Marthe Bonnard.
Durham is home to the extensive archives of poet Basil Bunting (1900-1985), most famous as the author of Briggflatts. Because of our close connections to the poet we took part in a commemorative plaque unveiling at Morden Tower, Newcastle upon Tyne, where Bunting gave his first public reading of Briggflatts in 1965.
One of our leading theologians recently spoke alongside Pope Francis at the Vatican City in Rome at the global launch of his new Papal Encyclical 'Fratelli Tutti' – one of the Pope's highest forms of communication.
This latest success builds on Durham's continued strong performance in world rankings.
Nationally, Durham is ranked fourth in the Guardian University Guide 2021, sixth in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021 and seventh in the Complete University Guide 2021. Durham is also ranked 86th in the QS World University Rankings and in the Top 100 in The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings.
Investing in new facilities
We are continuing to build on Durham's national and international ranking as a world leading University by investing in state-of-the-art facilities and faculty members.
These include our new Teaching and Learning Centre, a new Sports and Wellbeing Park at Maiden Castle, as well as our soon-to-be opened Mathematical Sciences and Computer Science building and two new Colleges at Mount Oswald.
